Town-hall-style meetings may provide useful insight about the range of views on a controversial issue, but they’re not likely to provide an accurate measure of overall community opinion, says a team of science communication researchers.
A dirty bomb attack centered on downtown Los Angeles’ financial district could severely impact the region’s economy to the tune of nearly $16 billion, fueled primarily by psychological effects that could persist for a decade.
A pair of neuroscientists from Vanderbilt and Harvard Universities has proposed the first neurobiological model for third-party punishment. It outlines a collection of potential cognitive and brain processes that evolutionary pressures could have re-purposed to make this behavior possible.
A new paper titled, “Multi-State Plans under the Affordable Care Act,” was released today by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (GW). Authored by Trish Riley and Jane Hyatt Thorpe of the GW Department of Health Policy and funded by The Commonwealth Fund, the paper examines key issues related to the development of multi-state plans (MSPs), a new type of insurance coverage created by a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). MSPs will be administered through the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and offered across state lines through the new state health insurance exchanges. The findings in this paper are based on interviews with federal and state policy makers and other stakeholders, and are intended to inform the development and implementation of MSPs.
The Jump Start our Business Start-ups (JOBS) Act, an entrepreneurship bill signed into law April 5 by President Barack Obama, could help open an entirely new class of investor to a process they largely have been held out of, says an expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care act has prompted some interesting and provocative issues about – and between – the president and the judicial branch, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and former clerk for retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. “These alarmed reactions reflect historical ignorance,” he says.
The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has joined other organizations to oppose S.J. Res. 37, a resolution by Sen. Inhofe (R-OK) that employs the Congressional Review Act to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants.
What we know – an unarmed 17 year old African-American young man is dead and that another man, is using Florida’s “Castle Doctrine” or “Stand Your Ground” law to shield himself from prosecution. What we don’t know – is there protection under these doctrines for anyone who pursues and subsequently confronts people?
In the wake of the Enron and other corporate scandals, new research from Binghamton University suggests that strengthening parts of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act would improve corporate performance and shareholder value.
Virginia Commonwealth University and the VCU Health System have three health care reform experts available to the media whose study found that the cost of caring for the uninsured population who will gain coverage through the Affordable Care Act of 2014 can be reduced by almost half once the act is implemented.
Six times as many big-city governments reached citizens via Facebook in 2011 compared to 2009. Use of YouTube and Twitter grew fourfold and threefold respectively. UIC researchers ranked the online interactivity, transparency and accessibility of the 75 largest U.S. cities.
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) applauds the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling today in the case of Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories as a victory for patients and for the advancement of personalized medicine.
Citizens inclined to ignore a jury duty summons are more likely to respond when reminded that failure to appear could result in fines or jail time, according to a UC Riverside study.
Brian Gallini, law professor at the University of Arkansas and a national expert on juvenile sentencing, is monitoring the U.S. Supreme Court’s imminent decision on the constitutionality of life in prison without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted of capital murder. On March 20, the Court is scheduled to hear arguments of two cases - Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs - that will be consolidated for the purpose of deciding whether imposing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole on an offender who was 14 at the time he committed capital murder constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
On March 9, the House Agriculture Committee will have a public hearing in NY on the 2012 Farm Bill, one of only a handful of such hearings scheduled. Cornell University has several experts available to talk about the implications of the Farm Bill for producers, consumers and the American economy.
Stephen B. Wicker, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University, conducts research in wireless information networks and how regulation can affect privacy and speech rights. Wicker comments on the recent WikiLeaks releases, how those releases connect to SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), and the need to balance Internet freedom.
Peacekeeping operations grew in 2011, but at a slower rate than in previous years, according to a new report by the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University. The change was largely attributable to a decline in United Nations peacekeeping deployments last year. The findings appear in CIC’s Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2012.
California’s three-strikes law has not reduced violent crime, but has contributed significantly to the state’s financial woes by substantially increasing the prison population, according to a UC Riverside researcher.
A new report from Indiana University supplies a close examination of the European Union's reformed chemicals law REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals), focusing on potential lessons for the U.S.
The current controversy over the Barack Obama administration’s birth control policy is not, contrary to some arguments, a matter of constitutional law, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. It is however, a matter of Constitutional principle, Magarian says.
The Obama administration's call for a "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" will likely fail because it relies on a public that, for the most part, doesn't know how to effectively to protect privacy, according to Indiana University information security expert Fred H. Cate.
Spanish-language media in the U.S. play a critical role in shaping perceptions of public opinion among Latino voters and public officials of every ethnicity across the country. They also play a far greater advocacy role for the communities they serve than do their English-language counterparts, says a UC Riverside researcher.
The U.S. Constitution’s global influence is on the decline, finds a new study by David S. Law, JD, PhD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Other countries are increasingly turning to sources other than the U.S. Constitution for guidance in establishing human rights provisions and for general structural provisions in creating their constitutions,” he says. Law, with co-author Mila Versteeg, DPhil, associate professor of law at the University of Virginia, analyzed 60 years of data on the content of the world’s constitutions. “The data revealed that there is a significant and growing generic component to global constitutionalism, in the form of a set of rights provisions that appear in nearly all formal constitutions,” Law says. “Our analysis also confirms, however, that the U.S. Constitution is becoming increasingly out of sync with these global practices.”
Rigid, zero-tolerance policies to prevent sexting that do not allow for discretion and the ability to address sexting in the context of the situation are ineffective strategies for dealing with this troubling trend, according to a University of New Hampshire professor who studies legal issues in education.
Two interesting facts that may counter modern ideas about bankruptcy: The overwhelming majority of U.S. filings belong to individuals rather than corporations or entities, and most of these people wait far too long to seek bankruptcy protection. These are two of many cultural misconceptions associated with bankruptcy in the United States, says Tim Tarvin, associate professor and supervising attorney in the student-staffed Federal Practice Clinic at the University of Arkansas School of Law.
Stephen B. Wicker, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University, conducts research in wireless information networks and how regulation can affect privacy and speech rights. Wicker comments on proposed legislation to limit the use of embedded software on mobile phones that can detect and record keystrokes.
The Museum of Intellectual Property, the country's first known museum of objects related to intellectual property cases, is on display at the University of North Dakota. A web site also showcases the collection.
According to an Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor who testified last month before both houses of Congress, the STOCK Act eliminates what many regard as an uncharted gray area in existing law. The Senate is considering the act this week.
University of Arkansas law professor Susan Schneider calls for a major transformation of U.S. agricultural law and policy. The central goal of both should focus on sustainable production and delivery of healthy food to consumers.
According to a new report by researchers at the Indiana Business Research Center, the Hoosier state is a prime example of how the Affordable Care Act could place thousands of jobs created by small businesses at risk. The same report also found that Indiana is heavily dependent upon out-of-state investment for creating new jobs, an important consideration as the state legislature is embroiled in the contentious issue of Right-to-Work.
In United States v. Antoine Jones, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects. Criminal law professor Brian Gallini has followed U.S. v. Jones and is available to answer questions about the Court’s decision.
Internet law and copyright expert Ned Snow is available to comment on the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate’s Protect IPA Act, both of which have begun to lose Congressional support. If passed, the bills would curb illegal downloading and streaming of TV shows and movies online.
Tarleton Gillespie, a professor of communication and information science at Cornell University, comments on today’s protests by Wikipedia and other websites over potential federal antipiracy legislation.
Wikipedia and other sites plan to go dark to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act under consideration in Congress. Three law professors from Washington University in St. Louis, Kevin Collins, Gregory Magarian and Neil Richards, signed a letter to Congress in opposition to the PROTECT IP Act. Read Magarian and Richards’ current comments on SOPA and PROTECT IP.
Speculation abounds about reform as a result of Burma's freeing of political prisoners and announcement of a cease-fire with rebel groups last week. But Indiana University experts says the developments are only the beginning of meaningful reform.
Nova Southeastern University faculty member Robert (Bob) Jarvis, an expert in pop culture (think Titanic) and maritime law, is available to discuss the legal ramifications surrounding the sinking of the Costa Concordia .
Some invest their money in stocks, some in bonds, some in real estate. Now, investors are putting their money into lawsuits, and University of Iowa law professor Maya Steinitz said this growing market needs government regulation.
In the case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas is contesting a federal court’s redrawing of the state’s electoral district lines for the upcoming primary election. Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Texas must get preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice before it can institute any voting changes. “This case gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to weaken or even strike down Section 5,” says Gregory Magarian, JD, election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “If Texas wins, even if the Court stops short of striking down Section 5 altogether, it will mark a major change in the law. The Supreme Court will essentially be saying that racial voting discrimination by state officials is no longer a problem that justifies a federal remedy.”
The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics praises the FDA’s action, published in the Federal Register today, to restrict some extra-label use of cephalosporins in cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys. The misuse of these critically-important antibiotics is contributing to antibiotic resistance, posing a threat to the successful treatment of human diseases.
Most people would rather not have their video viewing habits easily available to the public — no need for co-workers to know about your love of reality TV. The Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (VPPA) protects these records, but the House of Representatives — at the urging of Netflix and Facebook — recently voted to amend the VPPA, allowing companies to share movie watching habits much more easily. “What’s at stake is intellectual privacy — the idea that records of our reading habits, movie watching habits and private conversations deserve special protection from other kinds of personal information,” says Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.
Peter Blanck, a disability advocate and chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute, reacts to Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State remarks about supporting people with disabilities.
A new analysis, by the GW School of Public Health and Health Services Department of Health Policy, on constitutional challenges to Health Care Reform has been released.
Stephen B. Wicker, Cornell professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, comments on the National Transportation Safety Board proposed ban on using cell phones while driving.
Dr. Susan Wood, former FDA Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health and associate professor of Health Policy and Director of the Jacobs Institute at The GW School of Public Health and Health Services is available to comment on the FDA’s action denying the application to lift the age limit for sale of Plan B, or the morning after pill. This decision would have enabled retailers to sell Plan B on the shelf, as opposed to behind the pharmacy counter, where it is currently sold.
On Nov. 8, Mississippi voters will cast their ballots on Initiative 26, which would make every “fertilized egg” a “person” as a matter of law. “Many have rightly condemned this so-called ‘personhood’ initiative as an attack not only on abortion rights, but also on the ability to practice widely used methods of birth control, to attempt in vitro fertilization, and to grieve a miscarriage in private, without a criminal investigation by the state,” says Susan Appleton, JD, family law expert and the Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “But these criticisms fail to identify another flaw in the reasoning of the initiative’s proponents,” she says.
As one of the nation's leading forensic experts in school law, particularly sexual harassment, abuse prevention and risk management, Kansas State University's Robert Shoop has come up with a novel -- and suspenseful -- way of drawing more attention to the problem of the sexual exploitation of a child by a teacher.
Two Temple University pharmaceutical experts are available to discuss drug shortages and President Obama's FDA directive to address the growing shortage of prescription drugs.